IRS Says Check Is in the Mail If Your Stimulus Payment Was Wrongfully Offset

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IRS SAYS CHECK IS IN THE MAIL IF YOUR STIMULUS PAYMENT WAS WRONGFULLY OFFSET AGAINST YOUR SPOUSE'S PAST-DUE CHILD SUPPORT OBLIGATIONS


Earlier this year the U.S. Treasury mailed millions of $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans earning less than $75,000 per year. However, many joint-filing individuals have never received their Economic Impact Stimulus Payments (“EIP”) to this day. The IRS believes that about 50,000 joint-filing individuals had their share of the EIP erroneously diverted and offset to pay their spouse’s past-due child support obligations.


In a recent press release, the IRS acknowledged that this diversion/offset of one spouse’s share of an EIP to offset against the other spouse’s past-due child support payments was not proper and vows to fix the problem soon. Regardless of whether the eligible spouse previously submitted a Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation) to the IRS, the IRS will automatically mail catch-up checks to all affected individuals without any further action required by the taxpayer. However, the IRS does not have an exact timeline for mailing these catch-up payments, which are designed to reimburse the eligible spouse for his/her portion of the EIP that was erroneously applied to the other spouse’s debt.

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